So, before I get into each individual comment I'd like to make a few blanket statements.
1) We all know the performance of the HD 5870 vs GTX 470. This card launched a month or so back, every review site on the planet posted a review, and they all used the 197 drivers that were available at the time. When I was doing the benchmarks for this review 2 weeks back the 197 drivers were the only thing available as the 256 drivers were still in BETA. So, I could have either re-run the same benchmarks that Nate ran a month back with the 197 drivers, achieved roughly the same numbers, and spoonfed you guys the same conclusion, or I could have found a different avenue to waltz down. I chose to find the limits of the card and present them to show the frequency/FPS scaling. As luck would have it the 256 drivers were just released today and if I the review was still in the working stages I'd re-run with 256 vs 10.5. Sadly the timing didn't work out for this.
2) I received absolutely zero compensation for this review. I didn't even get to keep the card. So any claims of this being an NVIDIA paid review or me being an NVIDIA fanboy can stop right there. If I had been able to keep the GTX 470 or if NVIDIA had flown me out to California for a weekend of wining, dinning, and schmoozing, then I could understand such claims. It is a damn shame they didn't, I sure could use a vacation
3) Stone Giant and Heaven are beautiful benchmarks.. seriously. I personally had a lot of fun actually watching these benchmarks execute over and over again. It has been a while since I have had my nose inches away from the screen, watching frame by frame as a great fantasy scene unfolded before me.
In the end it sums up to this. 1) I couldn't bring any normal fresh material to the table. Clearly I could have just re-run what Nate ran and fed you guys the same material from a month back. 2) I should have asked to be paid off. If I'm being accused of it I should at least get some of the financial benefits. I sure could use the excess cash to buy some GTX 480s and liquid nitrogen. 3) Tessellation makes for beautiful tech demonstrations and I hope in the future we can see real games use it.
Now for the individual comments.
geokilla wrote:Wth? The GTX 470 destroyed the 5870? Is that even possible? All the reviews I've seen thus far, the GTX 470 is on par with the 5870 or its faster by a bit.
On your test configuration page, it says a XFX GTX 470 was used.
Good eye, my last NVIDIA GPU was an XFX, lingering memory
Major_A wrote:This should be a crime. All video cards should ship with a game. Even if they have to get cozy with Valve and package a card that shows people where to get Portal. There is no reason to pay this much for a gaming card with no game. To me this is like a motherboard manufacturer shipping a motherboard without SATA cables because they connect to drives you might not have.
Bundling games is usually a good marketing option but I have a feeling NVIDIA is cutting it close with this card. In the end also most of the games I have seen bundled gamers typically already have. It would be pretty sweet if GPU manufacturers would include something like a $25 or $35 credit to Steam so end-users could pick the game of their choosing.
Sttm wrote:Dont they all ship with a game on Newegg, Ive been looking through them and almost all have Just Cause 2, or Dirt, or MW2... oh and $70 off a thermaltake power supply combo!
They have weird time-slot based coupon codes going on, likely to push these cards out the door before the GTX 460 hits the shelves.
pwcmed wrote:Hmmm only one resolution and benchmarks that favor Nvidia? Something smells fishy.
I chose one resolution as my 24" monitor is temporarily unavailable and if you have a GTX 470 why would you game at 1280x1024? 1680x1050 was the highest resolution I could support at the time I did the benchmarks for this. I didn't explicitely choose NVIDIA biased benchmarks, I chose repeatable time-demos that support DX11. Unfortunately these are also tessellation heavy benchmarks as that is the new fad with DX11. AMD's RV870 is a great GPU, it has cornered the $300-$700 market for nearly 6 months, but it just isn't that strong in tessellation.
Raven1001 wrote:LoL just had to register to point out this is the most Nvidia bias review and benchmarks I have ever seen, one crap game tested that has been shown to favor Nvidia hardware and two benchmarks that favor Nvidia, embarrassing really, so much so that it looks like Nvidia have payed you off big time, Just another site to go on my blacklist with a number of others.
I take offense to this comment. I'm glad an article got the emotionless masses slightly riled up but to claim I was paid off is insulting. Firstly, this card was a loaner, so I have zero incentive to paint a pretty picture. If you read the conclusion I frequently reference the HD5870 being a more economical and power-friendly option and I still stand by that. This is just like RV770 vs GT200 except AMD isn't playing catchup this time around and is priced very competitively. Lastly, if you thought I was being paid off you could have emailed me and asked me about it. My email address sits at the top of the article and I'd point out the same points. What have I got to lose by being honest? This claimed NVIDIA sponsorship?
mccawpa wrote:I too had to register to voice my surprise. What a crock of sh1t
I'm a Nvidia fan but this review was cringeworthy to the extreme. Just how much brown nosing did you do to Nvidia to get a free card to test? I really don't want to use the word "test" as it's an affront to other benchmarked tests others have done on this card.
*sigh* card is a loaner, this card has been reviewed to death already, and I decided to have a little fun with it re: overclocking. No, I didn't run a ton of benchmarks, but I tested it pretty thoroughly with software tools that the average joe can acquire with a bit of Google searching and showed that this card just keeps on scaling. Guess that is the last time I attempt to show the overclockability of a VGA to normal people.
Raven1001 wrote:Your review is more acceptable if a bit over done on the TWIMTBP titles, although I suppose you have to pander to some of Nvidia's request, this current review should be taken down IMO, you're getting a load of stick for it on a number of sites, makes your site look like a joke. It should be left in the forums only as it looks like it's been done by an Nvidia fanboi.
I still stand by the numbers as I did the normal run 3 times, scan for inconsistencies, average the runs, dump the results into excel.
tl;dr -> 1) No, I am not paid off. 2) GTX 470 is "old" in the review world w/ no fresh changes(until 256 driver release today).